


does your husband know?

by livmoores



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheating, F/M, Minor My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan, but if you like them as endgame this is not the fic for yoj, light porn if that's even a tag lmao, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:41:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21628564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livmoores/pseuds/livmoores
Summary: "Does your husband know the way that sunshine gleams from your wedding band? Does he know the way of the crickets that would convince me to call it a night? Does he know the way I worship our love?"
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan
Comments: 17
Kudos: 97





	1. dimitri

**Author's Note:**

> i'm just trying to relive my fanfiction.net days where i wrote this boss ass story inspired by "headfirst slide into cooperstown on a bad bet" by fall out boy for vampire academy that involved rose and dimitri as detectives but she was married to adrian and she and dimitri had an affair (aka the only chaptered fanfic i've ever finished.
> 
> basically i'm still obsessed with this song and i decided to marry claude on my golden deer play through and it kind of created this mess. i just love claude so much!! and i love dimitri so much!!! and i cry. my otp is dimitri and byleth though so i mean let's make them suffer a bit
> 
> two-parts, potentially three. the first one is dimitri's side, the second one is byleth. i'm considering doing claude's because i hate myself. 
> 
> it's been ten years since i've written smut. feels weird. felt necessary. (it wasn't). no beta, don't own shit, all the good things.

Dimitri couldn’t stop watching her.

Byleth was focused on the paperwork in front of her, which had been thrown about the table in a way that only made sense to her. He had asked her about it once but she had shrugged it off and said it wouldn’t matter if he tried to understand it, that all that mattered was she knew what she was looking at. Dimitri couldn’t argue with it; it was easier to look at his copy of the casefile instead of her chaotic methods.

He saw the way her brows furrowed as she looked through copious amounts of evidence and how she would sigh when she connected the dots. The sigh meant that she was wrong about whatever she was theorizing. Byleth would pick at the tips of her fingers as she poured through files and she would mumble under her breath, usually mumbling something along the lines of “fuck” and “no.” At this point, every little thing Byleth did, Dimitri was well aware of.

“Maybe it’s time for a break,” Dimitri said gently as he reached for her hand, trying to pull her away. They had been looking at the casefile for hours with no resolve. A break would do them good.

Byleth up a finger in response and he stopped breathing.

_Does your husband know the way that the sunshine gleams from your wedding band?_

The wedding band was blinding. It always was to Dimitri. He tried to ignore it, pretend that it didn’t exist, but it always came back into his gaze.

He started to notice the little things about the ring, too. When the sun hit it at just the right angle, it shone so bright it almost blinded him. That usually happened in the morning, when he first saw her. The ring dulled throughout the day, only to come back into focus when he was least expecting it. And above all else, despite the gruesome nature of their work, she never took the damn thing off.

That damn wedding ring haunted Dimitri.

It forced him to deal with the fact that Byleth was off the market, that whatever they had was never going to happen. Then again, Dimitri wasn’t even sure if there was something between the two of them. It was wishful thinking on his part but he was sure there were times when he saw Byleth looking at him from the corner of her eye, too. How many times had their hands lingered too long to be deemed appropriate for partners?

The blonde titled his head to the side as he continued to look at her. She was beautiful. The more Dimitri thought about it, the more he realized that he couldn’t fully describe Byleth’s beauty. She left him speechless every time.

“What are you staring at?” Byleth teased, even though she was sure she already knew the answer.

Dimitri didn’t say anything. Instead, he moved closer to her and took her face into his hands. His heart was practically beating out of his chest as he looked into her eyes, a desperate plea his. _Don’t reject me, please._ Dimitri knew that he was treading in dangerous waters and despite the voices in his head, he didn’t think. Instead, he acted, capturing her lips against his own.

And good God, she was kissing him back.

* * *

“ _Fuck,_ God, don’t stop.”

He moved his body against hers, keeping the friction that she requested. At this point, Dimitri would do anything she asked of him. When he was inside of her, he was putty in her hands (although truth be told, he was pretty much putty in her hands to begin with).

Her nails raked down his back, leaving marks that were sure to last for days. All he wanted to do was to bite at her skin, mark her as his own but he couldn’t. No, they had to be _careful_. Dimitri had to bite his tongue at the sharp remark that was sure to come out.

Gently, he nipped at her collarbone, careful not to leave a mark, as he fucked her. It was hard and fast, fueled by the fact that her husband might call her and ask her where she was. One of these days, he was determined to have her spend the night under the guise of sleeping at the station, using one of their many cases as an excuse.

“You feel so fucking amazing,” Dimitri breathed against her skin as his hand reached down to her clit, rubbing her in circles. Byleth moaned in response to his touch and he smiled. It was a fucking heavenly sound and he wanted to hear it every day for the rest of his life.

They fell into a silence, only broken by the occasional moan and muttering of their names. It wasn’t long after Dimitri started touching her that Byleth orgasmed, his following shortly after hers.

“I love you.”

The words had fallen out of his mouth before he had time to think. He had just pulled out of her, was still hovering over her, his hands caressing his face, and he just spoke without thinking. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed just how bright the diamond was on her finger.

 _Please say something. Anything. Please_.

Dimitri watched her carefully, noticing that her face had paled after he had confessed his love. It only lasted a few seconds before the post-sex flush returned to her face. There was a hint of a smile on her face but it didn’t reach her eyes. It would never reach her eyes and that thought crushed Dimitri. He lived for her smiles but they were few and far between.

Byleth didn’t say anything but opted for pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

That stung worse than the silence.

* * *

The workplace Christmas party was awkward.

Dimitri was required to attend or he knew that Annette and Mercedes would have his head. He had to admit that the precinct looked beautiful with the Christmas decorates. He made a mental note to compliment them later. The two flourished in the decorating and it made him wonder if they were really supposed to be in the line of work as opposed to catering and party planning.

His eyes scanned the room as he looked for his partner. It didn’t take long before he spotted her in the corner. She had one of her arms wrapped around her husband, a small smile on her face as the two of them engaged with their co-workers. The sight was too much to bear.

It wasn’t often that Dimitri saw Claude. The nature of their jobs meant that she was essentially his work wife. He knew that Claude also worked for the force and therefor had just as crazy hours as she did. It made the sneaking around easier since he worked at a different precinct than they did. He had expected the first time he saw Claude after kissing Byleth to be awkward but he had managed to keep himself cool, calm and collected. It was only the more he and Byleth became entangled in the affair did seeing someone he once considered a friend become harder.

The wine that he was holding wasn’t strong enough to process his emotions. Dimitri knocked it back in one gulp and immediately went the drinks table, desperate for another one. Even if he was drunk, he knew that he could keep their relationship a secret. Slyvain had tried to coax it out of him before and he hadn’t given up.

“Dimitri! There you are.”

Claude’s voice made his blood run cold.

The blonde turned around and offered a small smile to the couple.

“Claude, my friend, how have you been? It’s been too long.”

He noticed the way Byleth looked at her husband and it was like a dagger to his heart.

* * *

Byleth was crying and it was his fault.

“I can’t keep doing this, Dimitri.”

He knew that this was coming. Dimitri had known it from the moment he kissed Byleth that she was going to pull back at any time. What he hadn’t expected was for it to be months of soft touches, stolen kisses, and long nights exploring each other. And above all else, he hadn’t expected to fall in love. As soon as he had, though, he had expected that Byleth would return the feelings.

That was no longer the case.

“Byleth,” Dimitri said softly as he reached out to pull her into his embrace, but she pulled away. Her eyes were bloodshot and the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. He felt sick to his stomach knowing that this misery was his fault and his alone.

“We can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair. It’s not right. I. I can’t keep doing this. I’m sorry, it’s over.”

“Okay.”

It was all Dimitri could muster. He knew that as soon as she left, he would be sharing the same tears. They would be for different reasons. His would be mourning the loss of their illicit relationship; she would be crying over the guilt she was carrying.

He watched her as she lingered in the doorway, her god damn wedding ring shining brighter than her personality. It was always a slap in the face to see it, to fell the metal in his hands, but this one hurt worse.

“I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

* * *

Dimtiri didn’t remember much of what had happened the past few days.

If he was honest with himself, he didn’t remember what had happened the past few weeks. Most of it had been a blur as he tried to distance himself from his partner and his former lover. He thought that it would have been easy to focus on work and nothing else but it was one of the hardest things he had ever done. All Dimitri wanted to do was pull her into the records room and kiss her, to text her to come over and maybe invite her out for things that friends would do after work.

He could have none of these things and it pained him greatly.

Still, his misery didn’t explain the last few days and why his memory was so fuzzy. When he had awoken, he found himself in a hospital room. It took him two seconds before the panic set in and he fell back into a deep sleep. When he awoke the next time, the nurse was kind enough to explain to him what had happened.

It was a gunshot wound to his stomach. The bullet had gone straight through and had caused him to lose a lot of blood but he was out of the danger zone. They were going to keep him in the hospital for a week to make sure there were no infections or complications from the emergency surgery they had to perform to safe his life. It explained why he had woken up with a sharp pain on his side.

The drugs kept his mind fuzzy. It was easier than facing reality. He found himself alternating between sleeping, reading something on his phone or watching T.V. It was almost peaceful.

“Can I come in?” A voice asked softly, causing his eyes to open from the nap he was pretending to take.

“You’re already in here, what’s stopping you?” Dimitri responded, his voice short as he readjusted himself on the bed. Movement was still painful but the drugs made it easier. The drugs made it easier to process the fact that Byleth was sitting down in a chair next to him.

Byleth didn’t speak as she reached for his hand, taking one of them into both of hers. They were still as soft and as warm as Dimtiri remembered them. Out of habit, he at her left hand from the corner of his eye and felt his heart drop. There was no metal pressing against his skin.

“You’re not wearing your wedding ring.” Surely it was the drugs and this was a dream.

“No, I’m not. And I didn’t forget to put it on, either.”

In the few years that Dimitri had known Byleth, she had never taken her wedding ring off. When they went to a crime scene, she wore gloves over it. When she cooked, she wore it. When she showered, she wore it. It didn’t matter; the ring never came off her finger.

The blonde was trying to find the words to say but Byleth cut him off.

“When you got shot, I was beside myself. I didn’t eat. I didn’t sleep. I was sent to the shrink two days later.” Byleth gently ran her thumb over his hand. His hands were cold. “I was a mess. And Claude…. Well, he picked up on it. I mean how could he not? It was so obvious. We got into it. It was a really nasty fight, probably the worst one we’ve ever been in.”

That still didn’t answer the question that was in the back of Dimitri’s throat. He didn’t care if they fought; she and Claude had fought all the time and bounced back from it. Although he was hopeful, he knew he had to be careful in assuming that this meant what he thought it did.

“Two days ago he asked me something. It took me by surprise. I didn’t know what to do. I told him the truth and gave him back the ring. It scared the hell out of me once I came to terms with it. Although if I’m being honest with myself, I think I came to terms with it a long time ago.”

Dimitri tiled his head to the side. “What did he ask you?”

“He asked me if I loved you.”

Silence flooded the room. The heart rate monitor attached to Dimitri was spiking and he cursed the machine for giving himself away.

“What did you say?” Dimitri asked slowly, unsure if he knew the answer. He had learned during their affair that if things were going good, it was probably going bad, and when things were going bad, it was probably going good.

“I told him yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next up: byleth. it'll parallel dimitri's story and focus on her emotions and whatnot. all dat good shit.


	2. byleth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just got dimitri back on my second blue lions playthrough (im aiming for a perfect game on normal/hard mode) and whew boy, did i tear up when he was sad. so here's chapter two. am i going to write claude's side? probably. but i am not making any promises on it.

If Byleth was being honest with herself, she always noticed when Dimitri stared.

It didn’t matter that she was muttering to herself, trying to figure out the paperwork in front of her. There were always a strew of cuss words coming out of her lips as she tried to make one plus one equal two when it was giving her seven. It didn’t matter that he was sitting next to her, not saying a single thing. She could always feel her eyes on him.

At first she had chalked it up to a protective partner. He was always watching her back because he had to be. If he didn’t watch her back, and she watch his, both of them could wind up dead. It was out of instinct, out of an innate nature that they survived the job. That was what Byleth kept telling herself for the first few months. It was after that that things changed, where she realized his gaze lingered longer and she touched him longer than necessary.

The wedding ring felt heavy on her finger. It always did when she was with Dimitri. It was why she had to focus on the paperwork at hand instead of the fact that they were alone in his apartment and he was looking at her with such intensity in his eyes it made her nervous (in a good way).

“Maybe it’s time for a break,” Dimitri said as he his hand touched hers. It was like a jolt of lighting escaped his fingertips as he touched hers. God, she wanted more of it.

Instead of caving into her desires (a wrong desire, she kept telling herself), she held up a finger to him to indicate silence. Yes, she had to focus on their paperwork. The longer she stared at the sentences that didn’t make sense anymore, the more she could ignore the tension in the room.

The problem she was running into was that it wasn’t bad tension. Well, that was a lie – it was bad. Everything about it was bad because she was married. She was married, happily so, to someone she considered the love of her life. Those thoughts had come crashing down when Dimitri had come into her life and had her questioning everything about her marriage.

_If you’re really in love, how can you feel something for someone else?_

That was the question that plagued her mind. There wasn’t anything wrong with her marriage, per say. They had been married for five years, together for eight, and it wasn’t bad. Perhaps it was a little boring. She loved Claude with every fiber of her being but maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t _in_ love with him.

“What are you staring at?” She teased as she titled her head to the side. Byleth knew the answer was her; it was always her.

His hands were gently wrapped around her face and she stopped breathing. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was going to do. Her wedding band felt like it was a thousand pounds, pressing against her finger. This was wrong. This was so wrong. Why couldn’t she break away? Before she had time to fully process the situation, his lips were against hers.

Kissing Dimitri was heavenly. It felt so right, so natural, and so wrong.

* * *

_I love you_.

Those were the words that had escaped his lips post sex. Her mind was still fuzzy from the orgasm and she couldn’t hold it together. Byleth knew Dimitri didn’t miss the way that her face had grimaced at his declaration of love. It only took a few seconds for her expression to falter and for her to regain any coherent thought process but it was enough.

What was she supposed to say? Byleth knew that she couldn’t say that she loved him back, not with the wedding ring on her finger. Even without the ring, she didn’t know if she could say it back. That thought didn’t matter at this point. What mattered was that Byleth was a married woman and falling in love was out of the question. An illicit affair with her partner was out of the question but that hadn’t stopped her.

How many times had they lain together? Too many. There had even been a point when Byleth had answered the phone while she was having sex with Dimitri. She had pretended that she was at the gym while she talked to her husband, trying to ignore the fact that Dimitri was inside her and giving her everything she needed. It had been so easy and Claude? Claude had believed it. There was never any question. He knew that his wife was close to her partner. It was as simple as that.

_I can’t love you_.

Byleth knew that she couldn’t. She wanted to love Dimitri. She wanted to love him with every fiber of her being and give him the world but she couldn’t. Right now, Dimitri was a footnote in her happiness. That thought hurt worse than the fact she was cheating on her husband. Loving Dimitri was dangerous. Loving Dimitri meant admitting to the fact that she was in the wrong, that everything about this was dangerous and horrible. Loving Dimitri meant admitting to herself that her marriage was over.

Byleth wasn’t ready to part with that. What she and Claude had was still special to her, even if it was tainted by her affair and budding love for Dimtiri.

She gave him a small smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes, and kissed his cheek. It was the only thing that she could offer him and she knew it crushed him.

* * *

Claude had begged her to take him to her Christmas party.

It wasn’t that she didn’t necessarily want him to go, she just didn’t understand the point of the Christmas party. It was a waste of time when they could be focusing on cases or chasing criminals. _Or lying naked in bed with Dimitri_ , she had thought to herself as she held onto Claude, walking around the party, making pleasantries.

It was a sense of normalcy with her husband that she wasn’t familiar with. Claude had always thrived at her work parties, always being the more gregarious one. It didn’t help that he shared the same work field, even if he worked in patrol and she was in the detective division. Claude could always bounce stories off her co-workers and keep a wide smile on his face as they talked about nothing. Truthfully, it made Byleth admire the man more.

The awkward part about the Christmas party was that her lover was there. She had hoped that Dimitri would opt out of the party, given that he wasn’t the one for social situations as of late. She also knew that Annette and Mercedes would have had his head for not going. So instead of making it awkward and protesting to Claude that she was tired from work and didn’t want to go, she put on a decent dress, heels, some make up and stayed latched to her husbands grasp.

“Dimitri! There you are.”

If Byleth was uncomfortable with the situation before, it was unbearable at this point. Claude adored Dimitri and before the affair (hell, even at this point, although Byleth didn’t want to admit to it), the two of them got along quite well.

It made everything so much worse. She felt sick to her stomach.

“Claude, my friend, how have you been? It’s been too long.”

With her wedding ring still weighing heavy on her hand, Byleth leaned into Claude and whispered that she was going to the bathroom. Being around the two of them was too much for her heart to handle.

* * *

The tears wouldn’t stop.

“I can’t keep doing this, Dimitri.”

Byleth couldn’t. She knew that the line had been crossed so long ago and it was going to be impossible to go back to whatever friendship they had before they kissed. She had been happy until Dimitri told her he loved her and Claude had expressed interest in wanting to have a child with her. It had awaken so many emotions she wasn’t even sure she had. It left her confused, broken, and angry at herself for allowing herself to get into such a complicated mess.

“Byleth,” she heard him as he reached for her but she pulled away. The older woman’s head was pounding from all the crying. How was she going to explain this one to Claude? That was going to be an interesting conversation.

Wiping the corner of her eyes, Byleth wished she would stop crying. Why did this hurt so much? Wasn’t this just about sex? No, it was so much more than that.

“We can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair.” _It’s not fair to you._ That’s what she wanted to tell him. It wasn’t fair to Claude, yes, but it wasn’t fair to Dimitri, as well. She knew that he loved her with his whole heart and she knew she couldn’t properly love him back. “It’s not right. I. I can’t keep doing this.”

_I think I love you_.

The first time Dimitri confessed his love, it had confused Byleth. She knew that she felt something for the blonde but wasn’t convinced that it was love. No, she loved Claude. That’s why she had gotten married to him after all. He had been careful after that but it still didn’t change the fact that it would sometimes slip up again. Every time Dimitri told her he loved her, she would kiss his cheek and pretend it didn’t happen.

It hadn’t been until Claude mentioned the idea of having a child that she realized she fuck, maybe she did love him. The thought of having a child with Claude scared the living hell out of her. They had always agreed that children were on pause when they started their careers. That time had come and gone and now that Claude was bringing it up, the future made her nervous. But the stray thought of having a child, and a future, with Dimitri, didn’t bring her discomfort. It made her calm.

With that realization, she knew she had to pull away from her partner. Claude was her husband. Dimitri was not. It was that simple.

“Okay.”

It wasn’t that simple. She tried to pretend that it was but it wasn’t. She was sniffling, snot running down her nose, and she was going to have an awful headache tomorrow. This was, by far, the worst heartbreak she had ever experienced.

“I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

* * *

_“Do you love him?”_

_“I do.”_

The conversation between her and Claude replayed in her mind as she moved through the hospital, looking for the room Dimitri was in. The nurse had given her the room number but the hospital was big and it wasn’t easy to figure out. It didn’t help that she was so wrapped up in her own emotions that the numbers on the floors were blurry on her vision.

When Dimitri had gotten shot, Byleth had lost it. She didn’t think as she shot first, taking down two people before she had crawled to her partner. She had held him as he was bleeding in her grasp and her sobs could be heard throughout the street. She held onto him, refusing to let go, as the paramedics arrived, as they pulled Dimitri away from her and put him on the gurney.

It took two days before Seteth had written her off to the shrink. The shrink didn’t help, considering how Byleth was almost catatonic at that point. She was relieving the trauma of her partner, her former lover, and the man she probably loved, getting shot to the point where they didn’t know if he was going to live. It was pathetic how much she cared for the younger man.

Claude’s question had made her realize one thing: she did love Dimitri. Truthfully, she knew that she had always had. She had been too stubborn to admit to it, clinging onto the happiness that Claude gave her. It was also a strong sense of security, some stability in her life, that she hadn’t had before she met Claude. That had all been shattered the moment Dimitri kissed her and she realized she was in trouble.

Byleth hadn’t wasted any time in giving Claude back his wedding ring after his question. The look in his eyes, full of heartbreak, almost killed her. She loved Claude, yes, but she wasn’t in love with him. She hadn’t been in love with him for some time.

After a few moments of reminiscing to herself, Byleth found Dimitri’s room. She knocked on the door and not hearing a response, she opened it a little bit. “Can I come in?” She didn’t wait for a response as she stepped in the room.

“You’re already here, what’s stopping you?” Although his voice was short with her, Byleth had become used to in the past few weeks. His coldness and indifference towards her had been his way of handling their break up. She didn’t blame him.

She took a set in a chair closet to him and took one of his hands into hers. He was cold, more so than usual, and the memory of the shooting replayed in her mind as she felt his hand thumb over her ring finger.

“You’re not wearing your wedding ring.”

“No, I’m not. And I didn’t forget to put it on, either.” When they had been whispering dirty things to each other and fucking each other senseless, her ring stayed on. It had served as her cruel minder that what she was doing was immoral.

Byleth titled her head to the side as she looked at Dimitri, her face full of worry. She was trying not to focus on the fact that he was hooked up to so many monitors and that there was an I.V line in his wrist. Dimitri didn’t speak so she took the opportunity.

“When you got shot, I was beside myself.” That was putting lightly. “I didn’t eat. I didn’t sleep. I was sent to the shrink two days later.” She ran her thumb over his hand, trying to calm herself down as she relieved the memory. “I was a mess. And Claude? Well, he picked up on it.” He had picked up on it the day she had come home from the hospital with blood on her clothes and not a single explanation as to what had happened. “How could he not? It was so obvious.”

She paused, her stomach uneasy as she recalled the fight she and Claude had. “We got into it.” And boy, had they gotten into it. It was a screaming match that would have made the neighbours call the police if they hadn’t known they were both cops. “It was a really nasty fight, probably the worst one we’ve been in.” It wasn’t probably; it was the worst fight they had been in.

_Why aren’t you saying anything?_ Byleth thought to herself. He was looking at her and if she hadn’t known any better, she would say that he was mad. No, Dimitri was trying to process the information at hand and wasn’t trying to jump to any conclusions.

“Two days ago he asked me something. It took me by surprise.” That was the truth. She had known since Dimitri had gotten shot that she was so hopelessly in love with him that she didn’t know what to do with the information. The idea of a divorce had scared her. “I didn’t know what to do. I told him the truth and I gave him back the ring. It scared the hell out of me.” _And it still does,_ she mentally added. “Although if I’m being honest with myself, I think I came to terms with it a long time ago.”

Byleth had known she loved Dimitri when he was dying in her arms. That much was obvious. What she hadn’t realized and had only figured out after some self-reflection was that she had loved Dimitri from the moment he kissed her. She watched him carefully, trying not to focus on the constant beeping from the hospital room.

Dimitri tiled his head to the side. “What did he ask you?”

There was no hesitation as she replied, “He asked me if I loved you.”

The heart rate monitor that was attached to Dimitri was spiking, indicating his rising heart rate and she almost laughed at the machine. Was he as nervous as she was? God, she hoped so.

“What did you say?”

“I told him yes,” Byleth said as she crawled into the tiny hospital bed and kissed him.


	3. claude.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "i'm not going to write claude's side, that would be too much for my fragile heart" - me, about two months ago.
> 
> y'all i'm sorry. this one isn't even happy. it's just cruel. i'm sorry claude ilu. i just kept thinking about it and felt it was necessary to really round out the story. it probably wasn't. it's been a long few weeks, man, let me have my angst.

Claude had given up on waiting up for Byleth.

When it had hit two in the morning, he had said fuck it and decided to sleep. It wasn’t a habit he enjoyed having but he found himself becoming more nervous as the night went on. Rationally, he knew what was going on. He knew that Byleth would have gotten called out to something and was pouring over the evidence. Perhaps she was in the middle of an interrogation. She wasn’t bleeding out on concrete floor, holding on for dear life. She wasn’t dead.

He _knew_ those things but he couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness. Shortly after Byleth had become a detective but they had a promise: if they were going to be late, they would text each other. It helped them from worrying about each other. It helped prevent situations like this.

So why the hell hadn’t she texted?

Claude found himself scowling as climbed into bed. No, there was no point in being frustrated with her. How many nights had he done that to her? He was the one working patrol; by default, he was in more danger than she was. How many times had she gotten mad at him for not texting her? Rarely. It was stupid for him to be frustrated. Maybe he was just exhausted.

The exhaustion theory proved to be correct. Minutes after his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep, void of any dreams. He only woke up to the sound of rustling next to his ear. He let out a sigh of relief as he made out her silhouette. Claude hear the clang of her gun and badge hitting the bedside table. It wouldn’t be long before she was next to him.

“Next time you’re going to be home so earlier in the morning, shoot me a text,” Claude mumbled as he turned over on the bed to face his wife. “You know the deal. Had me worried there for a second.” More like a few hours but it felt silly to worry over his wife.

“Sorry, got wrapped up in work.”

Her voice was soft but there was something behind it. Was she tired? Claude didn’t know. It was enough for him to arch a brow at her only for it to disappear a few seconds later. It was early; he couldn’t spend his time trying to rack his brain about a suspicious tone in his wife’s voice. For all he knew he was hearing things. He was exhausted, after all.

“Mhmm, come here.”

He outstretched his arms towards her and pulled her into his embrace. Claude didn’t miss how she had stiffened underneath his touch.

* * *

Something was wrong with their marriage.

Claude could rack his brain and go over it with Hilda to his hearts content but he couldn’t figure out the root of it. Something was causing Byleth to pull back and be more distant. Just in the past two months he had gone to sleep without his wife more times than he cared to admit to. Sleeping next to Byleth made him sleep better. It was unnatural without her there.

“Have you ever considered that it’s just the workload? I know they’re getting hit really hard over there. They had what, three homicides in the last week? That means they’re already on schedule to go to the next one, assuming there isn’t a fourth detective team I don’t know about.”

He sighed. “That’s what I thought at first but it’s not that. I don’t know how to explain it. Perhaps paranoia is the best word for it.”

Hilda leaned back in her chair and shrugged. “Paranoid is definitely the right for it. You two don’t keep secrets from each other, right? The only thing I know is that you don’t necessarily discuss your caseload with each other. If she’s getting slammed at work, that would line up.”

It wasn’t that simple. Claude couldn’t fully grasp it himself. This wasn’t just about her caseload increasing. It was about the increased nights she was spending with her partner, the fact that they barely had sex and when they did, it was all wrong. It was about him going to sleep without her next to him only to wake up a few hours later to find her crawling into bed. They used to talk about the world; now they talked about nothing.

A light clicked in his head and he groaned. “Fuck. I think I know what the problem is.”

“What, are you not just going to tell me what it is? That’s rude, even for you, von Riegan.”

Claude bit his lip. “I think she might be avoiding the whole ‘hey, wanna have a kid?’ talk. We said we would revisit it a little bit after her promotion settled down. I made an off handed comment about it a while ago.”

The brunette wasn’t sure he had made a comment about it at all. His months had blurred together ever since he had become a field training officer and oversaw a very eager, yet very careless, rookie named Ashe. The kid was exhausting to work with but it made him have a lot of faith in the system. It still seemed like a logical conclusion that she was avoiding having that conversation. Byleth knew him better than he knew himself sometimes. Surely she was bracing herself for the conversation she knew her husband would bring up.

Hilda made a face. “Yeah, having a kid with you? I can see why she would be avoiding that topic. Sounds like a lot of work.”

_That must be it. That must be it._ It’s what Claude kept telling himself. He wasn’t sure he believed it.

* * *

Going to the Christmas party seemed like a great idea at first.

He was going to use it as an excuse for the two of them to have a date night, for them to go out on the town and to reconnect. They barely had been having sex before and now it wasn’t happening at all. Their conversations seemed to hold meaning but the intimacy was missing. Claude missed his wife greatly and wondered if she missed him as much as he did. It’s why he had been so adamant on going to the Christmas party.

Things had been going great for some time. He was able to catch up with the people in Byleth’s department that he saw on occasion. Byleth was glued to his side and for the first time in a few weeks, he noticed that she was smiling. It was enough to bring a smile to his face. Claude lived for that smile. The longer the night went on the more Byleth seemed to relax. The more she seemed to be happy to be around him.

The atmosphere shifted quickly once Claude decided to engage with her partner.

“Dimitri! There you are.”

It was a simple greeting. He was excited to see Dimitri; the two of them got along well. Claude had accepted that Dimitri was her work husband; Hilda was his work wife, after all. Claude didn’t miss how Dimitri’s hands clenched his glass tighter and how Byleth’s face paled at their interaction.

“Claude, my friend, how have you been? It’s been too long.”

Byleth was going to draw blood with how tightly she was holding onto her husband. He barely paid attention as she leaned in and excused herself. His heart dropped as the pieces started clicking together in his mind.

“It has been too long. We should fix that.”

_No we shouldn’t._ Claude had never been a jealous person. He had found the idea of jealously to be disgusting and laughable. Jealously meant that he didn’t trust his partner. He trusted Byleth and knew he had nothing to be jealous about, especially when it came to the blonde standing in front of him.

The conversation he shared with Dimitri was brief but it left him with his head reeling. Byleth’s distant behavior wasn’t about having a potential conversation with Claude about having children. That became crystal clear as Claude watched Dimitri’s body language and how he seemed to be bracing himself for a hint. Byleth only reappeared by his side when he had moved onto conversing with someone else. He didn’t have to be a detective to figure it out.

Jealously was an ugly emotion.

* * *

“Seriously? You told me we would reevaluate it after you got settled more into your promotion. It’s been over a year. If not now, then when? A year after that? Five more years?”

_Would you have a child with Dimitri?_ That was the question Claude wanted to ask. The jealously was starting to eat him alive. Hilda had even commented on it. Claude watched his wife carefully, looking for any emotion on her face that would give her away.

“Have you considered that maybe I don’t want to have kids?” Byleth’s tone was stiff, matching her body language. It frustrated Claude to no end that he still had trouble reading her years later.

What had started out as a simple question turned into a full-fledged fight. It didn’t take long before they were raising their voices and Claude was resisting the urge to throw something, _anything_ , in the room out frustration. The conversation was going in circles; Claude would ask why, Byleth would evade, he would ask why, she would bring up something else and the pattern would continue. The only consistency to the conversation was that Byleth couldn’t tell him why.

They had been fighting for an hour before Claude snapped.

“Get out. Get out of the house. Go for a walk, go for a run, do whatever, I don’t fucking _care_. Just get out of the house for a few fucking hours.”

Claude regretted the words as soon as they left his lips. He knew he couldn’t take them back. Hell, if he was Byleth, he wouldn’t believe himself. He watched her as she stared at him, trying to process what just happened, and he watched her as she left, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Claude knew that things were too good to be true.

A few days after their explosive fight, she had come home sobbing. Claude didn’t ask what had happened; he held her as she sobbed. She had fallen asleep in his arms. When she woke up the next morning, she apologized and mentioned that she had been an awful wife and wanted to fix that. For a few weeks, things had been great. They were a little fractured but manageable. Claude felt hopeful.

Then Byleth came home with blood all over her clothes, a dazed look in her eyes, and had collapsed on the living room floor into a hysterical fit.

Ashe had texted him and informed him of what had happened. Claude did his best to be a supportive husband and be there for her but it was impossible. Byleth had become borderline catatonic. She had been dismissed from active duty for the time being and spent her time alternating between sleeping and staring at the television.

It was a slap in the face to Claude because it caused him to confront a harsh reality, one he had been avoiding for some time. The jealously monster hadn’t been irrational; it had been a warning and a desperate plea to get him to realize the truth.

“We need to talk and I need you to be honest with me. Did you have an affair with Dimitri?”

“Yes.” Byleth didn’t hesitate.

The questions began. When did the affair begin? How long? Did you fuck him while you fucked me? How many times did you lie to me? Where you ever really working cases? The longer they talked, the angrier Claude was getting. Most of it was directed at Byleth for being unfaithful. The rest of it was directed at himself for not seeing it. How could he have been so blind?

The questions turned hostile and their voices were raising. Claude’s head was starting to pound and he could see the tears forming in the corner of her eyes. It would almost be comical if someone called the police due to the heated conversation they were having.

“Do you love him?”

Claude knew the answer. He knew that she would say yes, she did love him and that she had loved him for some time. He would ask her if she still loved him. She would say she did but she wasn’t in love with him, not anymore. If he knew the answer, why did he have to hear it out loud? Did it make it easier? He hoped so.

“I… Yeah, I do.”

Claude slumped down on the couch next to her. He was exhausted. For months he had been fighting to keep a marriage alive that was destined to fail. He had brushed off the paranoia, saying it was nothing when his intuition had been screaming at him. And what was this all for? The mint haired woman in front of him? That seemed stupid in the moment. Claude looked at her and could feel the tears forming in the corner of his own eyes.

“How the hell did we wind up like this?” Claude muttered to himself. He hadn’t expected it to be easy to hear the truth from her but he hadn’t expected him to punch him in the gut so violently.

“I’m sorry, Claude. I’m so sorry.”

The worst part was that Claude knew she was genuinely sorry. He said nothing in response as he watched her remove the wedding ring from her finger and place it in his hands. The ring felt cold and hallow against his skin.

“I hope it was worth it.”

Claude von Riegan was resilient by nature but there were some things that would take time. Someday he would be alright. Today was not that day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahahAHAhaahaha it's fine i hate myself don't worry
> 
> dnw though he mourned their marriage and then wound up falling in love. with who??? idk man, that's up to you. i ship claude with a lot of people and wanted to keep that open so it gets his happy ending. claude and his lover are happily married and have two children. he even became friends with byleth again, although that took a few years and a lot of fighting. c:


End file.
